In the World Cup, current champions England suffered their first defeat against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, losing by 69 runs. England had started their World Cup mission with a loss to New Zealand in their previous match. Despite a big victory against Bangladesh in their second match, they faced a setback in their third match against Afghanistan.
In both batting and bowling, England faced a significant setback against Afghanistan. England had won the toss and aimed to dominate Afghanistan with their strong bowling, but from the beginning, the Afghan openers took control. In the opening partnership, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran scored 114 runs in just 100 balls, which, according to England’s captain Jos Buttler, changed the course of the match.
At the end of the match, disappointed English captain Buttler said, “It’s disappointing to give away so many runs after winning the toss. The first ball going so far outside leg lost the rhythm of the match. We have to give credit to Afghanistan; they outplayed us today. In reality, we couldn’t execute the plans in batting and bowling, and they had some great bowlers. Shishir [bowling coach] hasn’t played as much of a role as we thought.”
However, Buttler also expressed determination to bounce back stronger after this defeat. He said, “They [Afghanistan] had their stamp and plans. We didn’t perform well enough. You have to take the hit on the chin. We have to look at where we can improve and how we move forward. We need to show resilience now and come back stronger. The pressure is on our players to perform, and we will work on that.”
